Slovak 101

OK. Now that I’ve survived the first week at work, it’s about time to start deciding what to do about the Slovak language. I’m still undecided whether I want to learn it on my own or study it at some school (basically my company pays for some language classes) – having a teacher would undeniably bring some coherence, logic and discipline into the language learning process. What makes me doubt is the fact that I could also keep studying Hungarian (or some other language), which I might be more passionate about.


(Getting up at 6-freaking-am is definitely not my cup of tea)

So, speaking of Slovak, here are some opinions on the language this far (from a completely non-scientific point of view).

The combinations of consonants are quite… well, unpronounceable Learning the alphabet could be a step in the right direction!! Anyway, as mentioned before, Slovak is not that different from other Slavic languages, so knowing them helps a lot. I’ve made a little table below in which I compare some very common phrases in Slovak, Polish and Russian. 

English	Slovak	Polish	Russian
Hi!	Ahoj	Cześć	Привет!
Good morning!	Dobré ráno!	Dobre rano	доброе утро!
Good day!	Dobrý deň!	Dzień dobry	добрый день
Good evening!	Dobrý večer!	Dobry wieczór	добрый вечер
How are you?	Ako sa máš?	Jak się masz?	Как поживаешь?
Thank you	Ďakujem	Dziękuję	спасибо
Good night	Dobrú noc!	Dobranoc	спокойной ночи
Good bye	Do videnia!	Do widzenia!	до свидания
I have to go	Musím ísť	Muszę iść	Я должен/должна идти
Nice to meet you	Teší ma!	Miło mi	очень приятно
I like you	Mám ťa rád	Lubię cię	Я люблю тебя
I’m kidding	Ja žartujem	Żartuję	Я шучу
No problem!	Nie je problém	Nie ma problemu	нет проблем
I don’t understand	Nerozumiem tomu!	Nie rozumiem	Не понимаю
I don’t know	Ja neviem!	Nie wiem	Я не знаю
What is this?	čo je to?	Co to jest?	Что это?
I’m lost	Som sa stratil/a	Zgubilem/zgubilam sie	Я заблудился/Я заблудилась
Do you like it?	Páči sa ti to?	Podoba ci się?	Тебе нравится (это)?